Friday, November 2, 2007

The Canyon: Engineering Problems with the Bridge

The last post was about my viewpoint on the "digital divide." I passionately feel that a bridge - if not a reversal of this issue is needed. But, like the Grand Canyon, it is an overwhelming, if not impossible task. Lucky for us this stream hasn't been flowing for hundreds of thousands of years like the Colorado...nor is it a force of nature. So with a little care, I think it is an achievable goal - as do many. But in the meantime, I fear this crisis is being overlooked and underestimated. Like a huge hurricane brewing that everyone is calling a thunderstorm.

The first problem with this divide is a huge increase in poverty. Africa is one of the most impoverished continents, suffering largely from overpopulation and lack of jobs. Why? Their technology has not kept up which leaves them limited ways to participate in the business world. Most of these forms of income are based on natural resources, which of course are depleting and many Africans are dying for these resources out of need for money to feed their families. The introduction of technology would create many ways for these people to participate in worldwide business and therefore be able to support themselves again. But how will it be monetarily supported?

Which leads to my second fear - apathy. I think that as the world has become increasingly capitalistic, there is little attention or care given in helping those less fortunate get back on their feet. Fewer people seem interested in donating money, time and knowledge into these situations to help the overall good of society. Unfortunately, I fear they view this more as throwing money away than a true investment in the improvement of humanity and the world.

But even if I don't wane so cynical, the introduction of the actual equipment still poses a problem of education. Whilst computers and the Internet have been around in the United States and most of the "westernised" societies for almost two decades now, it has proven difficult to get people up to speed. The challenge of getting over a third of the world equally educated, familiar, and comfortable with technology is a huge challenge.

And even if we did, the fourth fear - language barriers - poses an incredibly daunting challenge. How do you share your knowledge with an African who only speaks Swahili, or an Indian who only speaks Hindi? While Google and other pages offer translation tools, this is limited - and since it is computer generated, many of the translations are incorrect in the final product. Furthermore, technology only does so much. There are still people behind the message with which they will need to interact at some point. Not being able to speak with them is a huge concern - and this also adds an entirely new arm of eduation that would need to be implemented. The cost, and time investment to get these educational vices in place are enormous. And by the time these countries have gotten up to speed with today's standards, today's standards will seem archaic in the countries in which technology is so quickly progressing.

Finally, the often forgetten part - is logistics. The Internet requires equipment, and people to run it. Not to mention electricity - or some other comparable form of power. How can these societies, many of whom do not have such sources of power in all homes, introduce new technology which so drastically needs it?

All of these topics are overwhelming to me. I do not know all the answers...but I will share some solutions I think are useful shortly. I do think, that time is of the essence. The longer the problem is left to stew, the greater it becomes - we may be ignoring it, but the surging stream of technology growth is continually eroding away the footholds and increasing the divide day by day.

About

I work in international public relations. I love traveling and realizing that reality is only limited by limited knowledge. I like to research how people interact and get along because understanding is half the battle.

About This Blog

Growing up in a small town that I affectionately refer to as "the middle of nowhere," the one thing that always bothered me was that people could never tell me about what it was like in France, or what it meant to be a Jew. Stereotypes and judgment always seem to go hand in hand with ignorance. Without ever being exposed to different cultures, it was hard for these sheltered people to understand why other people ate snails or matzo balls. It’s not because they were horrible people, but rather because it was too expensive for them to travel and be exposed to cultures enough to understand them.

The Internet has changed that. Now people from all over the world can interact and make friends in countries on the other side of the world for virtually no expense. This is important because the mass media can be misleading. For example, American media is arguably farther reaching than any other, but it has also led many people across the world to stereotype a population of a country 2 ½ times the size of Western Europe into one mindset. For example, half of the world has at least a slight impression that we care more about Paris Hilton’s jail time than we do about global warming based on the amount of coverage each one gets.

But being able to share ideas about individual thoughts, feelings and reflections through blogs allows the world to come together and realise that humans share similarities across all cultures. For those who have traveled, this medium creates a resource for learning about smaller communities and cultures outside of the usually visited big cities.

For example, when I traveled out of the country for the first time I religiously read Rick Steve’s blog about European travel. I searched out all the foreign people that were posting on blogs I often read and asked for advice. I gained a wealth of information about places that were off the beaten path. By doing this, I got a true taste of the culture outside of the tourist places that lacked authenticity. As an added bonus, I made a huge network of global friends through my virtual neighborhoods.

When I returned, that knowledge worked in reverse. My longing to speak with my friends on the other side of the globe expanded my knowledge of technology as well. For a year I logged onto the Internet every night to video IM with a friend in France to help improve his English. He had never been to America, and his English was quite rough when I met him in Spain. He learned a great deal about our culture through these lessons. It was amazing that we could speak for hours for FREE just to talk about the weather or discuss different views on daily current events. I was ecstatic to have this new way to communicate.

I want to be able to share this feeling with others, though. To expose some people to things they may not realize are available to them. I would like to discuss topics in respect to my own travels or work with people around the globe and how new technology has made it possible. I want to delve into how the web has made things easier, or in some cases spoiled the surprise. Being in public relations, I’ll probably also ramble on about how it’s affecting my career – specifically the importance of transparency. I hope at the end of the day my tiny little space in the new media will reflect a song lyric that I love: "Oh what a life my parents gave me, always TRAVELING…Wouldn’t it be a lovely headline: 'Life Is…BEAUTIFUL' on The New York Times?" The media may lead you to believe places are terrible, but visit places and get to know people before you make decision. The news is seldom reality, and there is more joy in the world than it appears. And besides that, I want to blog because I doubt any personally published newsletter would allow me to tell someone in South East Asia about the joys of eating southern biscuits, cheeseburgers and apple pie.